Randy Barnes has been announced as the newest member of Fast Track, playing bass.
The epitome of a bluegrass sideman, Barnes spent the past decade plus with Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, a job he left in February. Prior to 2013, he had also worked with Rhonda Vincent, Josh Williams, Marty Raybon, Larry Stephenson, and Lou Reid.
He says that he is pumped about this next chapter in his professional career.
“I’m excited about playing with Fast Track. We all have like-minds in the style of music, and where it’s headed in the future.”
With Fast Track he joins founding members Dale Perry on banjo and Steve Day on fiddle, along with Shayne Bartley on mandolin, and Duane Sparks on guitar. They record for the Engelhardt Music Group.
Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers will welcome new bass player Randy Barnes into the band when they make a return visit to Nashville this Saturday to play the Grand Ole Opry and the Station Inn.
Barnes is a bluegrass veteran of many years, working most recently with Marty Raybon and Audie Blaylock. His career has also found him performing with Rhonda Vincent, Josh Williams, Larry Stephenson, and Lou Reid.
He says that he is eager to get started with the Ramblers.
“The highlight of my career is to be able to share my music with like-minded musicians. Of course I value talent and good all-around musicianship, but it’s important to share in mutual respect, integrity and professionalism in this business and I’ve long admired Joe and the Radio Ramblers for all of these qualities. I’ve been a fan of the band for a long time and I can’t wait to hit the road with them and see where the music takes us.”
Randy is taking the spot vacated by Tim Kidd, a founding member of the group, who is leaving the road to stay closer to home.
“I would like to thank Joe and the guys for allowing me to be part of this band for the past 7 years. I am taking an opportunity to pursue a career that will allow me to be home with my wife, 6 year old daughter and 10 year old son, while also allowing me to be more a part of ministries at our church.”
Mullins took a moment to share his gratitude for Kidd’s contributions to the band as he welcomed Barners into the fold.
“Tim and I performed together in a music ministry when Tim was just 19 years old. He is a dear friend who has given so much to help the Radio Ramblers become established. I love him and his family and wish him the best.
Randy filled in for Tim one weekend in 2011 and we’ve been on stage for a few special events at festivals. He has the respect of so many as a professional player and he will be a great contributor to the Ramblers.”
Listen for Joe and the Ramblers on this Saturday’s Grand Ole Opry broadcast on WSM at 7:00 p.m. (CDT), broadcast over the air at 650 AM, and online at wsmonline.com. Just as quick as they finish on the Opry, the guys will hustle across town to the Station Inn where they will perform at 9:00 p.m.
Randy Barnes is the new bass player with Marty Raybon & Full Circle. He has been out with the band since April 28, and is also participating in the harmony singing.
He joins Chris Wade on banjo, Zach Rambo on mandolin, and Tim Raybon on fiddle and sock rhythm guitar. Marty, of course, handles the lead vocals and plays guitar. He reports being very pleased with the vocals with Zach, Tim and Randy.
Raybon has a busy tour schedule this summer, so it won’t be too hard to find him out on the road.
Josh Williams has announced on Facebook that one of the original members of his band is moving on.
“In a business where change is inevitable, the time has come to make a personnel change within the Josh Williams Band. After nearly 3 years of serving the band as bass player, tenor singer and road manager, it saddens us to be parting ways with Randy Barnes.
The band will be continuing on and we plan to name a new band member in the near future.
We wish Randy the best in his future endeavors and thank him for his dedication and service to the Josh Williams Band.”
Randy tells us that it had simply reached a point where creative and professional differences had reached an impasse. Such is the way when talented and artistic people collaborate.
We’ll post whatever we are able to learn about Randy’s future plans, and Josh’s next bass player.
Again, the frustration of not being able to catch all the showcase performers…
Downloading the Gold Heart photos last night, I missed Darin and Brooke Aldridge and Spring Creek, both of whom I had hoped to see. Darin and Brooke just announced last week that their next CD will be released on the Mountain Home label, probably early in 2010. There are more details and a YouTube clip of one of the new songs on the Mountain Home web site.
I had run into Taylor Sims of Spring Creek earlier in the day, when he stopped to speak with Alan Munde, who had been his teacher when Taylor and the other members of the band were enrolled in the bluegrass program at South Plain College in Texas. The pride was obvious on Alan’s face, meeting up with a former student at IBMA who was moving up in the bluegrass business.
Josh has always been a confident performer, not to mention a fine singer and guitar player. He shone as a member of Special Consensus and Rhonda Vincent’s band, and has three solo projects under his name. All this before he has reached the age of 30. He debuted his own band at IBMA last year, and the difference over the past year is starkly dramatic.
His band consists of musicians from Williams’ home state of Kentucky, who are also long time friends close to his age. Jason McKendree was on banjo, Randy Barnes on bass and Scott Napier on mandolin.
I can’t think of the last time I heard a four piece band this strong – rhythmically solid and sonically powerful – since maybe the early editions of Lonesome River Band in the 1990s. Their sound is crisp, precise and in-your-face. With Josh’s easy charm and million dollar smile, it makes for a very engaging performance. The guys obviously have fun on stage, and Josh is perfectly comfortable with the attention on him.
He seemed sincerely appreciative for the chance to appear on an official showcase, and thanked the crowd repeatedly for the opportunity. The Josh Williams Band, whose debut CD won’t be released until next year on Pinecastle, was nominated as Emerging Artist of the Year for Thursday’s IBMA Awards, something that again elicited a grateful mention from the stage.
The only song from the show that I recall Josh specifically mentioning as being on the new album was his brilliant version of The Last Song, a classic from the Jimmy Martin repertoire. This song requires a skilled and confident vocalist, and Josh absolutely owned it. Another standout was the Mark Mathewson song Mordecai, from Josh’s 2004 CD, Lonesome Highway.
A big part of achieving success at IBMA is being ready to take full advantage of your shot at such a big stage. Josh showed last night that he and his young band are ready, willing and able.
Josh Williams has announced a personnel change for the Josh Williams Band. Bass player Tim Dishman has elected to spend more time at home with his family, and to devote more time to his day job.
Randy Barnes comes into the group to replace Dishman. No, not that Randy Barnes, this one.
Randy formerly played bass with New Found Road. Since parting ways with NFR, Randy has been looking for a band that he felt was the right fit for him. It seems he found it with the Josh Williams Band.
We look forward to hearing him with this exciting young band.
The Mashville Brigade may not be that familiar a name to most festival going bluegrass fans, but the individual members of the band should be. The Brigade is comprised of: Aaron McDaris (The Grascals) on banjo and harmony vocals; Darrell Webb (Rhonda Vincent & The Rage) on guitar and lead vocals; Ashby Frank (Special Consensus) lead vocals and mandolin; Jim VanCleve (Mountain Heart) on fiddle; and Randy Barnes (NewFound Road) on bass.
The Brigade is today’s modern version of the Sidemen. Started a year or so ago as a fun midweek gig at The Station Inn in Nashville, The Mashville Brigade releases it’s first CD on April 22, 2008. The CD is produced by the band’s own Jim VanCleve, and contains 16 tracks, all of them standard bluegrass hits. Bearing the title Bluegrass Smash Hits, Volume 1, this disc is the first in a new series of releases planned by Rural Rhythm Records.
Ashby Frank commented on the genesis of the group.
I’ve gotten to pick with these guys at various festivals and in the halls and rooms of events like IBMA, SPBMGA, and the Galax Fiddlers Convention for years. Since we both grew up in North Carolina, I’ve known Jim for the longest, actually before I even really got into Bluegrass. The first time I ever played on a Bluegrass Festival stage was with Jim in Denton, NC. I think we put together a band with my sister and opened up the festival on a Tuesday or Wednesday night.
Randy, Darrell, Jim, Aaron and myself have performed with each other as a part of quite a few different collaborations, through fill-in work or special events like the MACC Festival in Columbus, OH. Once all of us had moved to Nashville, we talked about getting something together to play around town and maybe a festival or two. It took us a few years to get together, but it’s finally worked out, and it’s a whole lot of fun.
The band started basically as a new version of the Sidemen, the infamous group that used to perform every Tuesday night at the Station Inn. The Mashville Brigade started filling that same time slot and as Jim VanCleve tells it, one thing just led to another.
The Mashville Brigade has really grown into something much larger than we ever could have anticipated from when we first began playing at the Station Inn a little over a year ago. It all basically started as an outlet for us to have some fun while playing the music we all grew up on. But since the bluegrass culture around Nashville is really a pretty tight-knit bunch of friends, we suddenly had a good sized audience each Tuesday night, full of friends and family, in a room that is known for bringing out the best in people. This comfortable atmosphere really allowed the music to grow and take on it’s own unique personality. It was really starting to blow up, and the crowds just kept getting better each week. So, after some time, we started thinking, “this band really needs to record something”! Now, after listening back to the masters of the Mashville Brigade’s first album, I can honestly say that we are all very happy with what we were able to do!
The CD was recorded in a rather unique manner for the age we live in. The guys met at the Station Inn, their primary creative outlet, during the daylight hours and tracked the entire thing in under 8 hours with no overdubs.
We recorded this album with kind of a “throw back” philosophy in mind. We set everything up on the stage of the Station Inn, gathered in circle around the microphones, and just played! So, if somebody missed something, we had to start the whole song over. Plus, we recorded the entire album in the span of about eight hours one day in January. We didn’t have a crowd in there, as we were recording during the daylight hours. But, it was really interesting to record like that. There was an added element of pressure to get it right the first time, and that was actually a lot of fun, I thought! As we were recording, you couldn’t help but think of how Lester and Earl and Bill must have felt in their classic sessions so many years ago!
Normally CDs are only recorded outside the studio if it’s to be a live performance in front of an audience, but Ashby says they chose the Station Inn for several reasons.
Like Jim said, our philosophy was really an old school mindset. We all gathered round in a circle on stage at the Inn. That place is really a second home to all of us. We’ve been playing there most Tuesday nights for a year and we wanted to record there to capture the vibe, energy, and looseness that we’re used to having at those shows.
The CD opens with My Home’s Across The Bluegrass Mountains and the hits keep coming. For fans of traditional bluegrass, this will be a must have recording. The guys do it up right. The playing is immaculate, perfectly timed, tasteful, traditional and yet innovative. These guys may be young, but it’s clear they understand what hard driving traditional bluegrass is all about. Tunes like White House Blues will make you want to play along, if you can keep up! The four instrumental tracks are some of my favorite cuts on the disc, but all the tunes are bluegrass SMASH hits performed by a group of young pickers who’ll make you feel good about the future of traditional bluegrass music.
Here’s the track listing:
My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains
Banks of the Ohio
White House Blues
John Henry (instrumental)
Take This Hammer
Sitting on the Top of the World
Two Dollar Bill
Bury Me Beneath the Willow
Little Maggie
Going Across the Sea (instrumental)
I’ll Remember You Love In My Prayers
Lonesome Road Blues
Ain’t Nobody Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone
Salt Creek (instrumental)
Roving Gambler
Sally Goodin’ (instrumental)
I don’t think I could say it any better than Ashby did in his last comment to me.
This record is definitely a traditional Bluegrass record with very traditional songs, but there’s a good bit of contemporary feel that goes along with us being younger players. We always try to have as much fun as possible, and make our shows as high energy as possible. We want people to have a good time and come back and see us whenever they can. Hopefully this recording gives listeners that feeling, and lets them feel like they’re hanging out in Downtown Nashville enjoying a good night of hardcore Bluegrass.
It did for me.
If you need a fix of hardcore, traditional bluegrass music with a throbbing pulse and insistent drive, you’ll want to pick this CD up as soon as you can.
